The secrets to successful sustainability initiatives

If you’re feeling frustrated after Copenhagen and ‘Climategate’, take heart. Your actions can help tackle climate change while making your company – and career – stronger and more successful.

We know this because as part of the research for Climb the Green Ladder: Make Your Company and Career More Sustainable, Shari and I spoke to over 80 sustainability specialists – from organizations including Hewlett Packard, Royal Mail and the London School of Economics – who successfully changed their organizations from within.

Our research revealed that all sustainability strategies are underpinned by the same six maxims or principles which can help guarantee success – whatever your level or industry. These principles are described in much greater detail in the book, but we’ve given you a sneak preview below.

1) Get the mindset: Believe in your own power, and you can make a difference.

At the Phelps’ Group, Kristen Thomas’ idea to swap disposable dishes for reusable ones started a green tidal wave that ultimately led to her company becoming the largest private solar power installation in their area.

2) Make the business case: A business case which demonstrates how your sustainability initiative can add business value will show colleagues you’re no hemp-wearing hippie but a business savvy, strategic thinker who understands the new marketplace dynamics.

Martin Blake showed Royal Mail that tackling inefficiencies in their buildings could save £20 million a year while wiping up to 100,000 tonnes off their carbon footprint.

3) Get colleagues on your side: From using peer pressure to change behaviour to giving people the freedom to develop their own solutions, engagement is vital.

Dr Paul Toyne from Bovis Lend Lease formed sustainability action groups across the company, asking directors to recommend people to ensure top level buy in. This meant new initiatives were embraced as solutions came from within.

4) Have 2-way conversations. It’s crucial to communicate your messages effectively and that means making it real and relevant. Coral Rose persuaded fabric buyers at Walmart to use organic cotton by giving them a packet of kitty litter which was the equivalent weight of chemical fertilizers and pesticides used to grow cotton for a single conventional t-shirt. The result? Wal Mart is now the largest user of organic cotton in the world.

5) Work together: From working with others in your company to competitors, customers, suppliers, NGOs and government, collaboration can reap great rewards.

For example, in Scotland, Boots has teamed up with another company to share deliveries. The initiative has save 6,000 delivery miles a week and 150,000 litres of fuel per annum – reducing costs and the company’s carbon footprint

6) Make it part of the culture.. From making an action plan to making targets personal and part of everyone’s job, the most successful organisations are those who have made sustainabilityan everyday part of business thinking.

Randy Boeller, from HP US, has seen how an integrated approach reaps real business rewards. Take packaging for example. The carbon footprint of getting a product to the consumer can be four times as much as processing the raw materials for that packaging. This means that a lighter, but more environmentally-intensive material could be the better choice overall, demonstrating why you have to look at sustainability at every level to make the most intelligent decisions.